Top 12 NJ Arts Events of the Week: Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival, Trevor Noah, Lead East, more

by JAY LUSTIG
Delaware Valley Bluegrass Fest 2019

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder will perform at the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival at the Salem County Fairgrounds in Woodstown.

A roundup of arts events taking place around the state, through Sept. 4:

MUSIC

Now in its 48th year, the Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival takes place at the Salem County Fairgrounds in Woodstown, Aug. 30 to Sept. 1, with the lineup including Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, The Traveling McCourys, The Gibson Brothers, Dan Paisley & Southern Grass, Special Consensus, Balsam Range, Tuba Skinny, the Becky Buller Band and many others. There will also be informal jam sessions, a children’s stage and workshops. Bands are scheduled to perform from noon to 11:15 p.m. Aug. 30, 12:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Aug. 31, and 11:20 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sept. 1.

BRAD PAISLEY

It’s also a big weekend for country music throughout New Jersey, with Hank Williams Jr. performing before Lynyrd Skynyrd and after opening act Wild Adriatic at the BB&T Pavilion in Camden, Aug. 30 at 6 p.m.; Brad Paisley, Chris Lane, Riley Green at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m.; Miranda Lambert at the Event Center at Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, Aug. 31 at 7 p.m.; and Reba McEntire at Ovation Hall at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, Aug. 31 at 8 p.m.

In 2012, heavy metal band Slipknot debuted its Knotfest music festival, and this year, for the first time, the band is traveling around the country with a Knotfest Roadshow Tour. It comes with the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, Aug. 30 at 5:30 p.m., and the BB&T Pavilion in Camden, Aug. 31 at 5:30 p.m., with Volbeat, Gojira and Behemoth also performing.

Singer and harmonica player Rob Paparozzi and the Ed Palermo Big Band will present their “Electric Butter” show, featuring the music of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Sept. 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Parker Press Park in Woodbridge. This is the last show in this summer’s series of free, weekly Woodbridge Wednesdays concerts.

The final two events in this summer’s “An Evening With” series at the Grammy Museum Experience Prudential Center in Newark will feature Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone of The Zombies, Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m.; and DJ Khaled, Aug. 29 at 7:30 p.m. According to a press release, the series offers “intimate, moderated conversations with iconic recording artists about their creative process, history, current and future projects.” The Argent/Blunstone event will also feature a performance, in addition to the conversation.

Sept. 1 is the date for the Maplewood Porchfest, featuring free performances by pop, rock, jazz, folk and Latin musicians on porches throughout Maplewood’s Hilton neighborhood. The event starts with a parade leaving from the DeHart Center at 12:30 p.m., and the porch performances will last until about 6. For a schedule of the day’s sets, visit maplewoodporchfest.com/schedule.

TREVOR NOAH

COMEDY

• Trevor Noah is best known, of course, as the host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, but his roots are in standup comedy, and he still does that whenever his schedule allows. He’ll be at the Event Center at Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, Sept. 1 at 7 p.m.

FILM

• “Labyrinth,” the 1986 movie (co-starring Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie) about a girl’s quest to find her brother in a strange and sometimes scary world, will be shown at an appropriate setting, Jersey City’s historic Harsimus Cemetery, Aug. 30 at 8:30 p.m., as part of the city’s Movies in the Park series. There is no admission charge.

VISUAL ARTS

The artwork of actress Jane Seymour, whose credits range from television’s “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” to the James Bond movie “Live and Let Die,” will be featured in an exhibition titled “Jane Seymour: California Colorist” at Ocean Galleries in Stone Harbor. More than 80 pieces of art —— including oil paintings, watercolors, sculptures and prints — will be displayed. Artist receptions will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. on Aug. 30 and 31, and from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sept. 1.

Helen Lundeberg’s “Self Portrait” (1944) is part of the “Dimensionism” exhibition.

A new exhibition titled “Dimensionism: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein” opens at the Zimmerli Art Museum in New Brunswick, Sept. 3, and runs through Jan. 5. It’s a touring exhibition, exploring how modern art has been influenced by advances in science, and features some 75 works by more than 30 artists, including Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp, Sonia Delaunay-Terk, Joan Miró and László Moholy-Nagy.

OTHER

Lead East, which advertises itself as the world’s biggest oldies festival, takes place Aug. 29-30 and Sept. 1 at the Parsippany Hilton, with music, classic cars, drive-in movies, memorabilia, old-fashioned sock hops and proms, dance lessons, children’s activities and more. Featured performers will include Charlie Thomas’ Drifters, The Capris, Cleveland Still & The Dubs, The Mystics, The Demensions, Norman Fox & the Rob-Roys, The Fireflies, The Razorbacks, Magic Touch, Remember Then and Echoes of Time.

The 35th annual Scandinavian Fest, taking place at Vasa Park in Budd Lake from noon to 6 p.m. Sept. 1, features food, crafts, music and dance, historical re-enactments and children’s events spotlighting the cultures of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Entertainers will include the Scandinavian Women’s Chorus of Rhode Island, contralto Hanne Ladefoged-Dollase, accordionist Brent Buswell, the Pillerkaar folk dancers, the Smorgasbandet dance band and more.

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